Going to Party Like it is Your Birthday

Without meaning to, I (poorly) made Crown Royal themed bean bags to accompany a carnival game for a five year old’s birthday party. Let’s just say, as far kiddo birthday parties go, this one was certainly something.

Thanks Pinterest!

That there is the carnival game. Toss the bags through the hole, shout hurrah and move on. It is made from what what once a play kitchen table and now has legs of 2x4s and a feet of…something else. I call it the Gonk board because it reminds me of the GNK droid from Star Wars. High winds destroyed the board last night and this birthday the five year old learned that all good things come to horrid ends. Kidding! He doesn’t remember the board exists.

It was fun to put together though. My goal for the party was to provide enough play options for the dozen children that filled the backyard over the weekend. Sidenote; a group of kids aged a few months to five years makes an incredible amount of noise and that noise tends to be light saber related regardless of age.

In the pursuit of fun, I put together a ring toss board with help from my neighbor (ensuring that I did not put a screw in my hand instead of the peg). The toddler opted to help put it together in his own special way too even opting to not push his tricycle around and instead hammer a near by board. The board wound up painted orange and green. I went for a pumpkin vibe, but it turned into a Gators fan’s tailgate must-have.

My wife went all out on fun party decorations. Star Wars themed food and drink was bountiful and light saber napkin rings went over quite well. I am not sure where she found the print-out, but if you’re looking for a quick way to get children to actually use a napkin just wrap it a light saber. Fun thing we discovered about the 5 year old mind set; when in groups, the red light saber napkins go first. And fast. Don’t trust them.

The house was full of laughing kids, adults buzzing with conversation and a table full of Star Wars pun themed crock pot foods. It was nice to have our little house so full of activity for a Saturday morning. Exhausting, but very nice. The goal was to provide a fun place for the kids to play and I think we succeeded. Learned plenty about what kids do at a birthday party too. The answer being “whatever they want”. For all the planning and cleaning, toy making and food baking, the only thing the kids cared about were those napkins. Every time I think I understand kids they decide to play with napkins.